Liam took the proffered hand and returned the shake firmly. Frank had an iron grip, and his skin felt like old leather.

"Fair enough, Frank."

Liam retrieved his fingers and turned to the rest of the group. Most of them had hung silent in the doorway while the drama was going on and he raised an eyebrow at them. Ignot still hadn't returned to the room, a fact for which he was grateful.

"Are you lot planning on gawping all day, or should we get moving before something nastier than us shows up?"

Logged

Now hollow fires burn out to black, and lights are guttering low.Square your shoulders, lift your pack, and leave your friends and go.Oh, never fear, man, naught's to dread, look not to left nor right:In all the endless road you tread, there's nothing but the night.

Daniel noticed that the steps he heard wasn't heading right for them, but he knew he should keep aware in case they did come towards them. He had no intention of being surprised like those in the other apartment.Hearing individual steps was not easy in such a big building, but all the time alone in fear of being ambushed by zombies had turned Daniel very sensitive to sudden noises, especially footsteps.

He could see that he had made Kenneth a bit more nervous than he should be."Some of them are splitting up. I just thought for a second that they were heading over here. But it seems to be only one person, but it doesn't seem to be coming over here... yet.". Daniel said while tensing down a bit.

Daniel looked back at Kenneth and put the shotgun down, without breaking it this time. His eyes had turned from cold to a more indifferent look."Before you give your reply, I think I should quickly introduce myself. I heavily doubt that you are an idiot, as you would probably not go along randomly with the plans of someone you have just met."Daniel's face started to turn milder under all the fur."As I have already said, my name is Daniel Johansen. You might wonder where I am from, yes? Well, I am from Norway and I'm stranded in this country. I was studying abroad in agriculture right before reality became a horror movie. If I have an aim then it is to know the fate of my family back home, other than that, I have none except for the survival of me and whoever I can help."Daniel's eyes looks tired as he takes a breath."I have been surviving alone for a couple of months now. I've had more near-death moments than I'd have in probably several lifetimes and frankly I'm tired of doing so alone. I probably won't survive this winter alone, if Zed doesn't kill me then cold and starvation will."Daniel could see based on the slight look from Kenneth's face that he reacted to the word "Zed".

"In case you don't know, I call the zombies Zed simply because I got tired of saying Zombie. It becomes annoying after saying it a few hundred times. I could call them Zack, but that would easily confuse others."Daniel's face suddenly goes into a serious tone again."Enough of that. I don't need to know much about you at the moment. Now what do you think we should do?"

Bethany's mouth curved downward slightly at Frank's hostility, but she knew she could not find him at fault; even she was upset at the sudden intrusion, and not only for the reason that they were first treated as criminals. The forced entry ruined Frank's hard work setting up protection for the three of them with what meager materials they had. It did see, however, that most of this group were not as...militant, was that the word she was looking for?...as the man who had shouted at the outset. She would follow Frank's lead and be wary of them, but that did not mean she had to be rude.

Anthony walked carefully over to Mr. Frank with the open water bottle. He didn't want any of it to be spilled, that would make Mama Betty upset, and it might make the scary people angry. He waited silently as Mr. Frank and the stranger who had the chocolate shook hands, then tugged on Mr. Frank's pant sleeve, giving the chocolate stranger a wide berth. "Here Mr. Frank," Anthony said, holding up the water bottle, "Mama Betty told me you was thirsty."

Frank gave an extra little squeeze before the handshake was ended and nodded at Liam. Liam turned and started to address his group of marauders when he felt a little tug on his pants. His first instinct was that somehow a zombie had gotten in and was trying to attack him and his immediate reaction to that was to kick the shit out of whatever was pulling on his leg. Then he looked down and saw Anthonys cherubic face looking up at him. In his little hand was a bottle of water being bounced up in his direction.

"Here Mr. Frank, Mama Betty told me you was thirsty."

Franky patted the boys head and took the water. He unscrewed the top and proceded to take a nice long swig that drained the water bottle of half its contents. Sighing with refreshment he put the top back on and gave the water back to Anthony. "Thank you so much little man," he said as he smiled at the kid. "I really needed some H2O there. You're a lifesaver! Now get back on with your mama and stay close. Mr. Frank needs to go talk to the grown-ups ok?"

He ruffled the kids hair and playfully nudged him in Bethanys direction before turning towards Liams group. The group appeared to be in some sort of loose school circle. One of the females that was present earlier wasn't there with the others now. She hadn't been a big enough gal to worry Frank about some sort of ambush. There was only one male in this opposite group that worried Frank. The one with the cold eyes. Sure Frank had OCD to a certain extent but the way this guy had looked over him, Bethany and even the kid...it had been too calculating. He had no desire to face off with that creepy guy any time soon and carefully stood by until it looked like the invading group had decided their course of action.

Bille only stood there. No support, no antagonizing, no nothing. Just stood there, hand on the door frame looking at him like some kind of... well, some kind of monster. Ignot just stared back past the red shades, waiting on the inevitable chewing out for what he just did. But her silence cut him to the core. Pushing himself off of the wall, he brushed past her without a word, the silence between them cutting deeper than any knife could at that moment.

Walking into the main room of the apartment, everyone seemed to stiffen up again, hard faces and wary eyes were cast in his direction once more. What was worse? Being cautious of new people and making sure that they had the advantage in case they were dangerous? Or losing the faith of your team because you picked the one apartment that had a child and woman in it? He wasn't sure anymore.

'Maybe you should let a few of them die due to stupid mistakes...' Illaron said to him, the cackle in his voice barely being held back. Ignot shook his head and walked forward, past the other until he was between all of them and the new people.

"I'd like to apologize for our rude entrance. I'm Ignot. Scaring you wasn't my intention, merely making sure that you weren't raiders or con artists. We have a home, well stocked and equipped, if you'd like to come back with us. Consider it my olive branch for your destroyed barricades." He said calmly. He heard a few gasps behind him, sharp intakes of breath at his sudden turn of character. Normally, he didn't apologize for anything. He did what he felt was right and that was the end of the discussion. But now seemed like a good time to use humbleness. They had shown that they have the heavier hand, but to use it was a different story.

"I understand if you are hesitant." He said, but even before the words came out of his mouth a sound perked his ears. Tilting his head slightly, he glanced toward the window, the sharp ray of sunlight reflecting off of his glasses. He barely heard it himself, but he knew exactly what it was. Without so much as giving a hint away that anything out of the ordinary had happened, he looked back toward the group before them.

"You guys can have a bit of alone time if you'd wish to discuss it, but i need to talk Alex for a second." He turned to look at the younger woman and nodded his head toward the door. She dropped the bags she had found with a huff and walked out like a scorned teenager...which, now that he thought about it, she was. Nodding to the ground, he motioned over to Leeland and Billie.

"Give them whatever they need." Both of them nodded as everyone started to help them out. Alex was leaning up against a wall of the hallway as he rounded the door to the apartment. She was bundling up against a fierce draft that swept through the hallway as he stepped in, but she looked at him like he was interrupting her life.

"What is it, Ignot?" She said sarcastically, arms crossed and defiant.

"Alex, we've been together for almost 2 years now. Drop this shunned teenager act. He said, but before she could get riled up and angry he continued.

"I asked out out here because you are the co-leader of whatever the hell we have going on here and you need to know this." He took a deep breath and glanced to make sure that no one was listening.

"Alex, i heard engines. Far off, but someone or something else is sharing this city."

Logged

"May I take a moment to tell you the joys of National Socialism?" - Also Red Beret

"Some of them are splitting up. I just thought for a second that they were heading over here. But it seems to be only one person, but it doesn't seem to be coming over here... yet" Daniel remarked.

Kenneth did his best to listen for any footsteps, but couldn't hear much besides his heart thrumming in his ears. Daniel proceeded to re-introduce himself, only this time going into more detail about his past. It turns out that he is actually from Scandinavia, Norway to be more precise. He came to the States to study agriculture. He also clarified the use of the word Zed, which Kenneth would have found slightly humorous were the circumstances different. Then again, were the circumstances different, there would be no need for the word Zed, now would there?

"Enough of that. I don't need to know much about you at the moment. Now what do you think we should do?"

"Well," Kenneth replied, almost immediately, "we know that those folks up there are definitely in the 'put down your weapons' business, but maybe that's 'cause they are afraid of looters, same as us. You know, people's got a right to protect themselves. We can either take a chance on our own... or we can go up and try to make nice, and all I can say about that is that... well, I've been out on my own with more than just two folks before, and it can get pretty nasty once them zombies get in your path."

Kenneth heaved a sigh. "I'm thinking maybe we should go up, get close and shout out our position. Tell them we're armed, but we want to talk to them and we ain't gonna hurt 'em. Hell, even if we don't join up with them, maybe we can trade supplies, get a little information or something. Maybe Tanya's with them..."

Kenneth looked to Daniel. "Well, what do you say, Daniel from Norway?"

She wanted to be angry with him. She wanted to throw a tantrum and not be the little solider that he molded, but she couldn't escape it. She adjusted her hat and coughed; the draft of the cold air seeping in finally found its way to her bones. She felt miserable as she scratched at her arms; bandages were so itchy. Ignot then began to berate her about her performance and how she needed to stop being an emotional teenager. Before she could even say something, he said:

"Alex, I heard engines. Far off, but someone or something else is sharing this city."

Alex's ears perked up as she looked at him with wide eyes. Army? Possible. Her father? Slim. Other survivors? Probably. She then looked down and slowly kicked the dust covered floor. Why, out of all places now did he decide to tell her this?

"So what should we do about it?" she finally rasped out. "Should we go after them? If it's people they'll know we're here....and they might not be friendly."

Logged

It's been a hard day's nightAge is no guarantee of efficiency 3DS friend code: 4613-6707-8466

Daniel felt more at ease as the primary option seemed to be contacting the raiders. Even if the group happened to be a group of murderous scum, they would surely exit the building peacefully and leave rather than get into a skirmish with two shotgun armed men in a building full of tight corridors.But the powerful, though somewhat muffled, voice from upstairs was still lingering in the back of his mind. No matter what sort of raiders they might be, at least one of them knows what he is doing and he probably does it well.

"Well, what do you say, Daniel from Norway?"Daniel snaps out of his thoughts, grabs his gear and walks over to the door."I say we go now, before we'll have to negotiate with them at the stairs." He said with a somewhat excited smile before opening the door quickly. He forgets that the door was easily opened and barely manages to catch it again before it almost slams into the corridor wall.He chuckles nervously and takes a deep breath before starting to walk slowly to the stairs, almost forgetting about Kenneth.He could then hear something. It was too weak and muffled by the building to appear as a noise but it was like he could hear the slight vibration in the air. He hadn't heard such in many months."Engine?" He mumbles.

Daniel had a jubilant smile on his face. "I say we go now, before we'll have to negotiate with them at the stairs."

Daniel and Kenneth began walking towards the stairs. Daniel seemed a bit excited, probably at the prospect of meeting others... others who have also managed to survive this hell, whether by divine intervention, sheer determination, primal human instinct... it was hard to say now-a-days. Things were coming apart.

Kenneth was quickly removed from his thoughts when he noticed Daniel slow down. His initial reaction was that Daniel saw something, but it wasn't that. Daniel saw nothing. He heard something.

Kenneth heard Daniel mumble something, but wasn't sure. It didn't matter. Moments later, Kenneth heard it as well. It was too faint to actually distinguish, but Kenneth guessed a truck, maybe even a plane.

"Alright Daniel, no tellin' what that could be, but I'm thinking we need to get a move on. Let's go see if these folks take kindly to strangers."

"Alright Daniel, no tellin' what that could be, but I'm thinking we need to get a move on. Let's go see if these folks take kindly to strangers."

Daniel was somewhat relieved that he wasn't simply hearing things. He had for a long time been afraid that he would slowly go insane and start imagining things.He nodded and pushed the sound to the back of his mind. It would have to wait for later.As Daniel and Kenneth started to walk up the stairs, Daniel pulled out his flashlight and studied the stairs as he walked. It wouldn't be illogical to assume that the raiders had stationed trip-wires, perhaps connected to cans or other metallic objects, in order to foil any attacks from behind. The light in the staircase was too dim for such traps to be spotted with the naked eye. He made sure to keep the light pointing down in order to avoid any flashes to be seen by the raiders.As they reached the top and the start of the corridor, Daniel started thinking hard. The corridor was now all that separated them from the room where the raiders were. To stroll over to them was naturally enough out of the question and shouting to them could have negative side effects in the long run.Kneeling by the entrance to the corridor; Daniel pressed his lips together, raised his fist and looked at Kenneth in a nervous manner.He then closed his eyes and started knocking on the corridor entrance with the knuckles on his right hand.To his shock, he realized that he was knocking the melody to "funky town".

Leland had finished inspecting the weapons of the new found survivors when he noticed Ignot take Alex aside in the hallway. He shrugged it off, realizing that it was likely a personal matter.

He had begun to figure out the hierarchy of the group: Ignot was the de facto leader, grooming Alex to be a sort of backup. Billie was the moral support and obvious medical professional, and...that was about as far as he had gotten. There were still a lot of other members, but their characters were not so...obvious. Leland looked at Liam as an example. Liam was a young man, thrust into an environment of chaos. Would he accept Ignot as a leader? Or try and take control himself? Leland mentally chastised himself;such broad implications were unfair to all parties and he felt terrible about assigning "roles" to people.

His work now finished, he milled about for a minute or so, unsure what to do next. He found a suitable solution: he would ask these new people if they had any medical concerns that needed checking. But, before he could, he heard a soft knocking sound. Ignot obviously wanted him for something. On a whim, his mind conjured an old memory.

"...suddenly there came a tapping,As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

He crossed the room and let his hands rest on the doorframe as he leaned out into the hallway. Down one end he saw the shadows of Ignot and Alex. Quite far away in fact.

"Shit Shit Shit Shit"

He slowly turned his head to the other end of the corridor. Just above the stairwell were two scraggly young men. Two young, scraggly, ARMED young men. The irony of his ambush by armed strangers was not lost on him.

His pulse quickening and his head pounding, he made a mental note to kick his own ass for not having his weapon at the ready, and being off balance to boot. Running on "Southern Hospitality Auto-pilot", he tilted his head up and spoke loudly and clearly.

"H-Hello there!"

"Ignot if you hear me ONE TIME in this life let it be now!" he thought.

After Ignot gave his usual short prep talk concerning evacuation procedures and building layout, Billie promptly turned her back to him to indicated she’d be going in the opposite direction of their leader. The woman huffed softly to herself, glaring hard at her gloves as she straightened them on her fingers. Hearing the sounds of the teams starting to spread out she lifted her fire axe and rested it over her shoulder, eyes searching for Harold. Her intense gaze softened when she spotted Liam and Alex. Billie knew Mr. Matheson death had a caused a great deal of distress to Alex and Jason…but Trista’s violent retreat back into her own mind had been slowly grinding away Liam’s personable disposition. Her heart fell into silent mourning for what the teenagers had lost and how powerless she was to prevent it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Billie sighed heavily looking at the three survivors they charged in on. She cursed in her mind seeing one was a scared little boy. The woman quickly rested her fire axe over her shoulder, wanting to seem less a terrorist than she felt. Despite Ignot never issuing an order to be at ease around the strangers, Billie felt an immense pride at Liam’s outreaching to the survivors. Slowly the situation deescalated and Billie felt her nerves settling. The momentary calm was quickly taken from her as frustration grew watching Ignot slip off from the unpleasant situation he created. Huffing the woman stalked after the retreating man, the angry words burning in her mouth just to disappear as she stepped through the threshold of the apartment.

"Now of all times Illaron?" Ignot whispered, taking off his beanie and rubbing his bald head in agitation.

Billie could only stare, observing, as Ignot seemed to carry on a conversation with…himself… When his head turned in her direction she froze, physically and mentally, just staring back to his red-tinted gaze.

"What?" He asked flatly.

Billie only stood there. No support, no antagonizing, no nothing. Just stood there, hand on the door frame looking at him. At the time she couldn’t formulate words to chew Ignot out for his aggression…she could barely fully process she’d just witnessed Ignot during a moment of weakness.

She followed him silently back into the apartment and a smile came to her face as she listened to Ignot apologizing to the strangers. Maybe what she witnessed in the hall wasn’t as bad as she originally thought. Maybe rather than it being a display of weakness or slipping sanity it was just a moment of guilt due to his actions. Reassured, Billie went to introduce herself to the three survivors only to pause…turning toward the door where the sound of someone tapping ‘funky town' was coming from. Seeing Leland hanging out the door, Billie excuses herself from the survivors and joined him in the door frame.

“What are you…” Billie choked on her words. Just above the stairwell were two scraggly young men. Two young, scraggly, ARMED young men. Between her and Leland and the two armed strangers were Ignot and Alex.

Slowly the woman edged out of the room, hands up in the most nonthreatening manner she can manage while supporting the weight of a fire axe. “Can we help you?”

Friendly suvivors or militant looters... either way, this had to be done... maybe they knew something about Tanya... or held her captive with them.

Daniel and Kenneth made their way up the stairs. As they moved, Daniel pulled a flashlight from his hoodie and illuminated the steps. Kenneth assumed he was just brightening thier path. It was pretty dim in the ruined complex.

As Kenneth and his new Norwegian companion made it to the top of the stairs, he could hear stifled voices. He didn't know how many people were in that room down the corridor, but he knew he would soon find out, for better or for worse. He was nervous, that's for sure. Daniel looked nervous too, which only made Kenneth that more nervous. He thought about saying something, but before he could even begin to think about what he might say, Daniel started to knock on the corridor entrance.

Kenneth sucked in his breath and clenched his shotgun tight. The thought of when Daniel knocked on the door to Tanya's apartment flashed through his mind. Hopefully the strangers would take as kindly as Kenneth did to Daniel's peculiar method of introduction.

After what felt to be an eternity, and much to Kenneth's surprise, a young man stuck his head out of the door, looking one way and then their way, right at Daniel and himself. The young man looked concerned, no question about it. Why wouldn't he? Here were two young men, like himself, strapped up with shotguns and making their way right to his front door. Kenneth surmised that he would be concerned to.

"H-Hello there!"

The young man sounded like a southerner, no question. Maybe from Alabama where Kenneth was from? He didn't ponder long before he heard another muffled voice, close to the young man ahead of them. The voice had come from a woman from inside the room where the man stood. She only looked for a moment before she appeared from the room, holding an axe, albeit with her hands up. She was conveying to them that she meant no harm. Didn't mean she wasn't thinking it.

"Can we help you?" the woman asked.

Kenneth kept a tight grip on his shotgun, but kept it down. He knew if he needed to shoot this woman, he would get her before she got him.

"Uh, m... my names Kenneth. This here's uh... uh, Daniel, and we heard ya'll break in from down the stairs. Now, we... we don't want no trouble or nothin' like that... an' we ain't looters or nothin' of the sort, but we heard you tellin' someone to put their weapons down. We figured maybe we could come up here an' try to talk to you all about... well... about all of this."

Kenneth looked at his shotgun in his hands for a brief moment, then returned his gaze to the woman in front of them.

"Now, I know how to use this, and I ain't afraid to either, neither is Daniel here, but we don't want to use them if we don't have to. All we want is to know what's going on here, with all the screamin' and hollerin' and what not. Care to oblige us?"

Ignot looked down at the teenager before him. She was a combination of things that he had never before seen in his life. Fear, anger, remorse, bravery, foolishness, and a whole lot of moxie in a very small, young woman. At times, she made him want to rip his non-existing hair our, other he was stunned by her courage and, more often, stupidity. He just stared at her and wished for a fleeting second that she just wasn’t so…confusing. He took a breath in was about to speak when he heard knocking.

“Is that…Funkytown?” He asked, canting his head down the hallway. Alex’s jaw hit the floor, momentarily stunned at the abrupt change of topic before listening herself.

“I think so…” She said. Ignot was going to go inside and chide whoever decided to be clever when a few things caught his attention.

"H-Hello there!" Leland said, his voice echoing down the hallway. It was a bit more stressed and higher than he normally would talk, Ignot thought. Indicative of stress and trying to get attention.

“Can we help you?” Billie asked, diplomatically. Someone is there, Ignot thought. Armed, or Billie wouldn’t have a slightly tweaked tone to her voice. She was forcing her calm exterior, fear peaked slightly through it.Another voice, male, coasted through the hall toward them. Peaceful and curious, but just as fearful as Billie. Negotiations? No…Just wanted to make sure everything was okay. Analysis of our readiness, possible scouts for an ambush. Linked to the engines earlier? Couldn’t be, too far away for that kind of response. Minimal threat past surprise. Don’t shock them and we could get past this okay. Ignot turned and walked past Alex, patting her on the shoulder.

“We’ll continue this in a bit. We have visitors.” He walked down the hall, placing his machete back into it’s holster. He cocked both of his pistols and placed them into loose holsters, just in case he needed them. Walking around the corner between himself and the offending hallway, he immediately noticed both men in the hallway, Billie, and Leland. Luckily, no one else ventured out. Showing his hands at his sides and empty, he stopped directly next to the doorway that they had smashed open. Just in case he needed cover.

“If you care to place down your weapons at the end of the hall, we can talk. We just wanted to make sure these survivors were not raiders before offering assistance. I would like to make that same assurance on your end. We are not raiders, nor have any intention of being so.”

Hopefully, this could be resolved quickly, as bullets were hard to come by. Survivors too.

Logged

"May I take a moment to tell you the joys of National Socialism?" - Also Red Beret

Liam half turned and glanced over his shoulder at the doorway. He thought he'd heard Leland or Billie saying something, but he guessed they were probably talking to Alex or Ignot out in the hall. With a mental shrug, he turned back to Frank, Bethany and the kid and thought for a moment. He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face and rubbed at the back of his neck nervously. He was about to do something that he wasn't sure Ignot, or some of the other survivors for that matter, would approve of.

"Look, I know you probably aren't feeling that trusting after the way we burst in, but I want you to hear me out."

Liam looked down at the floor for a moment and tried to figure out how he was going to put this in a way that would sound remotely appealing to a small group of frightened strangers. Then he lifted his eyes and met those of Frank and Bethany.

"We're staying in an old apartment out in the suburbs. Big place, a lot of empty rooms, and it's secure. You should come back with us. It's better defended than this place, we've got food and water and we could definitely fit in a few more people."

Liam trailed off lamely, he knew he hadn't made much a pitch given their first impression.

<tag Firesolved, Xanatos, et all.>

Logged

Now hollow fires burn out to black, and lights are guttering low.Square your shoulders, lift your pack, and leave your friends and go.Oh, never fear, man, naught's to dread, look not to left nor right:In all the endless road you tread, there's nothing but the night.